In Part II of a three-part series for Saturday’s 9NEWS special, Carrie Walton Penner talks about her family upbringing and investments in team facilities.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Besides nearly 11,000 Walmart retail stores across 19 countries, two of the great legacies passed on from Sam and Helen Walton were a strong work ethic and the ability to fly an airplane.
They were all connected — Walmart, work and flying. In his never-ending desire to check out his own stores across the country and the competition, Sam Walton found it time-efficient to fly his own plane in and out.
“He had an incredible impact on me,’’ Sam’s granddaughter Carrie Walton Penner said in an interview with 9NEWS this week for the program special, “Leading with Passion: Broncos Owner Carrie Walton Penner,” to be telecast at 6 p.m. Saturday. This story is Part II of a three-part series about Carrie Walton-Penner’s journey to becoming a Broncos owner, her Colorado upbringing, and her impact on the franchise, community and league. “I’m one of the oldest in my generation and they were quite young grandparents, so I had the benefit of spending a lot of time with them.
“I’d go with them a couple of times every summer and go visit stores and warehouses. If you’ve read his book, you know he would go in and drop in on stores and he would buzz them in (when flying). As soon as somebody got buzzed, they knew they needed to get somebody to the local airport to pick up Mr. Sam.
“As he would do that, usually whoever showed up at the at the airport was very nervous and sweating it out a little bit. But it was really the way to get around and manage by being present and to really just to see what’s happening in the stores and get the real story, rather than hearing reports from those who are in management and out in the field.”
That leadership style and work ethic did not skip a generation.
“That was definitely passed down to us,’’ Carrie said.
Sam Walton no doubt would have been proud of what Carrie and her husband Greg, Broncos owner & CEO, have done to the place.
The Penners not only hired the right coach with their first head coaching hire in January 2023 — Sean Payton is one win away from joining Bill Belichick as the only coaches in NFL history to have five, 13-win seasons — they seemingly have spared no expense in providing resources to the organization.
They began by adding more than $100 million into upgrading the Broncos’ current stadium, Empower Field at Mile High, even as they were making plans to build a new one.
The Broncos’ current practice facility and team headquarters may be one of the 10 best in the NFL. Not good enough. Greg and Carrie Penner are building a new $175 million facility that is about six months from finished construction.
They also invested heavily in revamping all areas of the team’s sports performance through training, strength and conditioning and sports science. Additionally, the Penners commissioned new uniforms, significantly increased their community granting and modernized the team’s approach to business operations.
“It doesn’t always come down to money,’’ Carrie said. “It’s trying to figure out what are we doing for the players. Are we supporting them? Are we supporting the organization? And a lot of it is about building culture.
“The new facility will allow us to have most everyone under one roof along with the players. So that’s great for the organization. The design of it was fun to think about for the players. How do we make sure we build this new training facility around players so that we make sure they are efficient in terms of, literally, the number of steps to get to each place they need to be.”
Constructing one major facility can satisfy an NFL ownership group for 25 years. Greg and Carrie Penner will eventually undergo two major projects in a five-year period with their September announcement of plans for a new privately funded stadium and mixed-use community set for a targeted opening in 2031.
As it stands now, Empower Field at Mile High is one of the best venues in the NFL thanks in part to significant investments from the Penners in the stadium and gameday experience. The joy, the foot-stomping exuberance at Empower Field is like no other.
Or did you not hear the capacity crowds the past two home games against the Chiefs and Packers?
“The fan base is amazing. And the stadium is electric,’’ Carrie said. “To hear it in the last several months when we’ve had our home games, it is incredible. The number of penalties that our fans create, we get (pre-snap) penalties every game.
“The players talk about it all the time how amazing our fan base is. And they show up for game day, just like our players show up to get there, to be heard and to be seen.”
Soon enough, Broncos Country will be settling in, making noise in a new home located only a mile away. The Penners announced Burnham Yard, an old railyard Carrie learned about as part of her Colorado history lessons in third grade, as the preferred site of their new stadium. The aerodynamic venue will feature a retractable roof and natural grass, designed with home field advantage in mind but also with modern amenities to host events year-round.
In the months following the announcement, Carrie and Greg — alongside Broncos President Damani Leech and General Counsel Tim Aragon — have focused on community engagement. This included a community open house at La Alma Lincoln Park last month, meetings with Denver City Council members and engagement with key community organizations in an effort to learn as much as possible.
“We feel really good about where we are,’’ Carrie said. “Damani Leach and Tim Aragon have done an amazing job of really working with a lot of our local officials. I’ve spent time as well having breakfast and lunches with city council members and local elected officials as well as organizational leaders and neighborhood leaders.
“It’s exciting to get to start these conversations and really talk about not only the stadium, but really the whole area of Burnham Yard and how do we really bring that to life 365 days a year?”
The Penners and the Broncos have been diligent in trying to make the community surrounding Burnham Yard their partners, with Carrie emphasizing the importance of listening to make the transition as smooth as possible.
“The communication and transparency are important as well as creating something that’s really special for Denver,” Carrie said. “Burnham Yard is amazing. It was a foundational building block of our state with its history. To elevate and talk about the history of Colorado through where we are in Burnham Yard is a great opportunity.
“We’re excited to create something special for Denver and for the whole region.”